Serious fatigue and exhausting symptoms occur as a result of a severe imbalance between the energy production on one side and an increased physical and/or psychological demand for energy on the other side.
Burn-out is defined as a gradual depletion of emotional, mental and physical energy due to work-related stress leading to emotional exhaustion, a sense of depersonalization, and feelings of reduced personal accomplishment. Symptoms are poor work performance, relationship problems, health problems, negative feelings and feelings of meaninglessness.
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is defined as severe disabling fatigue that lasts at least 6 months, which is made worse by minimal physical or mental exertion, and for which there is no adequate medical explanation. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome has a feeling of fatigue (severe tiredness) as its main symptom. The fatigue should be new (i.e., not life-long), is severe, disabling, and affects the physical and mental function. It should persist for 6 months or more, and must be present 50% of the time. In addition, other symptoms may occur, especially myalgia (muscle aches), sore throat, swollen lymph nodes in the neck or armpits, pain without redness or swelling in a number of joints, intense or changing patterns of headaches, unrefreshing sleep and weariness that lasts for more than a day after any exertion. There is no other medical reason for fatigue (no heart problems, chest problems, or other medical problems that cause fatigue).
For these physical states, no recognized treatments exist yet. Therefore, it is an object of the disclosure to provide a means to relieve at least some of the symptoms connected to these physical states.
It was found earlier that a subgroup of patients with CFS show depleted serum levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). In order to increase the lowered IGF-1 serum levels, IGF-1 is administered directly to an individual in need of treatment. However, the disadvantage thereof is that the IGF-1 concentration in the body may become too high in too short a time, which might lead to an overdose. This, in turn, can cause hyperactivation (mitosis), which, in the long run, might lead to cancer.
Other conditions are also associated with reduced levels of IGF-1. It is also desirable to have treatments or reliefs for these.